Teaching: 4 essential tips to a healthy work-life balance

13/10/15

It’s a well-known fact that you don’t enter the teaching profession to have an easy-going, stress-free career. The work is active and the hours regularly extend into your evenings through the week, and into the weekend.

Regardless, hundreds of thousands of teachers manage to cope with the stress of their work

So how do they do it? Here’s 7 great tips which will help you achieve a healthy work-life balance as a teacher.

Tip 1 – Plan ahead, don’t worry ahead

As a teacher, you will have to do a large amount of preparation in advance of your lessons and exams. But beyond that, you should learn to appreciate the present moment, instead of worrying about the future, and the amount of work you have to do. As long as you have dedicated future time to prepare your lessons, then you should feel relaxed and positive about the present.

Tip 2 – Factor in some ‘me time’

Being a teacher, you will be required to perform in front of a lot of children as well as attend regular staff meetings everyday of your working life. This makes your time alone (when you’re not planning of course) significantly important. Whether you enjoy running, meditating, photography, or simply catching up on your favourite TV series, make sure that you allow a healthy amount of time for yourself to take your mind off of work.

Tip 3 – It’s okay to say no

If asked, a lot of younger teachers find it hard to say no to taking on extra work. Whether it’s helping out a colleague, or the extra responsibility that comes with a promotion, the already huge workload of a teacher can spiral out of control if you do say ‘yes’ to each request that your school and leaders ask of you. Instead, simply explain your schedule, and politely and calmly explain that you can’t help this time round.

Tip 4 – Transform negatives into positives

This very much depends on the person, but being able to bully yourself out of a negative mind-set can be one of the best things for your career as a teacher. Of course, we all have points in our career (yes, even outside of teaching) where the whole world seems against you, but it’s how you respond to your problems that matters most. Turning problems at work into positives can help make your classroom a brighter place – and will help you become more relaxed outside of work too.